We have come to the end of Poison Ivy: Cycle of Life and Death and I’m not sure how I feel about it, but I do have a little bit to say about it. Just a tad bit. I’m not sure if I’m the only one that was feeling the same way about this story, but it started off really good and then it kinda fizzled out in this conclusion. Let me explain. Many people weren’t too psyched about this comic book, because it featured Dr. Pamela Isley in the anti-villain way, but honestly, I never really saw that too much. Throughout this entire time, she has been in the middle of keeping back her villainy ways, now more than ever, because she was taking care of these sporelings. Ever since Hazel, Rose, and Thorn were in the picture, she acted on a motherly role and took on the challenges of becoming a role model for these sporelings (even though she did use her abilities to take down whoever came in her path.) The story started off great while it featured Dr. Pamela Isley in her scientist habitat and then slowly became dull when she wasn’t letting the sporelings completely bring out their abilities. Even with this conclusion, we didn’t really get to see much of what they can do, but I am sure they’ll bring them back soon.
It was Dr. Grimley all along! Never liked that guy. There’s always something about quiet, creepy scientists that just doesn’t sit right with anyone… ever. I really didn’t think he was the one behind everything though! Just me? Perhaps if we were given a background history of what Dr. Grimley was going through, then maybe we would’ve figured out that it was him. But I’m no detective, so y’all probably figured it was him. The artwork is downright beautiful. I think it’s mostly with this character, that you’ll always find the greenery around in the background and frames that really stand out. The colors are blended nicely and it almost has a dark watercolor feel to it; look how big Grimley is also – he’s huge compared to Poison Ivy. They did make sure that the size ratio was kept throughout the entire comic book issue, so that’s good to know. It’s always weird to see a really huge villain and then in the next page, they’re the same size as the main character (that ain’t cool.)
I WISH they would’ve shown more of the sporelings abilities in this issue!!! It was the perfect time to really make them shine; You’d think that they would’ve also brought out Poison Ivy to kick some butt, but nope. It was done in a team effort. Which I don’t have a problem with, but since we’ve started this comic book, it has always been about Poison Ivy and her children (I’m slightly complaining.) This issue felt rushed when I was reading it. I’m sure it wasn’t when Chu was writing it and the creative team planned it, but as a reader, it just felt like this was the finale that we were going to see and let’s just get through with it. Although I loved this comic book a lot, I’m sure it was more, because Poison Ivy is one of my favorite characters to see in comic books. She has always dabbled into the human side of her, but stayed grounded to her plant-life.
WHOOP! WHOOP! Swamp Thing makes an appearance and he’s the one that finishes off Grimley. That came out of nowhere. Always love seeing this guy and the creative team did a great job on how he came out in this comic book. He literally killed Grimley with one swing (didn’t kill him fully, but that’s not the point.) It was a nice touch to see the connection that Poison Ivy and Swamp Thing have together; even the small conversation that they had with each other, reacted Poison Ivy to want to call Harley Quinn. SPOILER ON THE ENDING BELOW. Keep forgetting to mention about Darshan. How cool is that guy?! This scientist, but wannabe singer, really shined in this entire comic book. He figured out that Pamela was Poison Ivy and then acted cool about it and got close to the sporelings (especially Rose). He kicked butt when he needed to and provided the intellectual help when Poison Ivy couldn’t think straight.
What does this mean?! Where are they going!??
The Good: The only really good thing about this issue, was that Swamp Thing showed up. Even if it was just for a bit. Nah, I’m being too harsh. The story was good guys. We found out the true culprit behind the murders (which is what we were trying to figure out in the beginning) and we got to enjoy Darshan for as long as we could. Haha. The creative team did exceptional with the artwork and captured these characters in almost-realistic ways – I liked that, it was different.
The Bad: Artwork was great. Story was great. Conclusion was not so great. That’s it. Felt completely rushed (and maybe it was the way I read it, but I made sure to read it a couple of times to see if it was just me.) I even had my younger brother read this comic book to see if it ended too quickly. I understand when you’re reading a comic book and then you get to the action portion of it – things just seem to go by quicker. This didn’t happen in this case. Grimley told his story on why he needed to get the sporeling’s fluid, fight scene happened, and that was that.
Recommended If:
- You want to see the main characters not really fight their battles.
- You want to see SWAMP THING show up and kick some buuuuttttt.
Overall: Short, but went straight to the point. Literally. The entire story was surrounded by scientific talk that made you feel smart when reading, but it featured Poison Ivy in a different light. My score is reflected on this comic book issue (the conclusion), but overall, I had fun reading this comic book. I would definitely recommend it to anyone who enjoys seeing Poison Ivy and want to see her tap into her human-side a bit more (even though she was focusing on her plant-side mainly, because her sporelings were created.) As far as where this takes us, I’m not so sure. The conclusion left us hanging that perhaps we will encounter another comic book that will return to talking about these sporelings and what becomes of Poison Ivy after this story.
Score: 5/10
